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Those who continue to broadcast sports will never again be as well known, or perhaps as beloved, as Dickie Davies, who died on Sunday.
The ubiquity of modern sport and the multiplicity of channels will take care of that. Fame is more widely distributed now, affection is more elusive.
Still, the World of Sport host’s family and friends were taken aback by the warmth and depth of the tributes that followed his death at 94. positive, loving and caring towards him,’ his former colleague Jim Rosenthal told Sportsmail.
Many of Dickie’s former viewers peppered their eulogies with refrains like “part of my childhood” and “I grew up with him.” In those days, there was only Grandstand at BBC and ITV’s naughtier rival, the only two shops in town, as Rosenthal put it, so everyone over 45 in this country knows who Dickie was, his distinctive lock of hair. white hair is a registered trademark. dear. “Have you repainted the ceiling?” as Jimmy Tarbuck joked.
Dickie Davies passed away on Sunday aged 94 and was a pioneer in ITV sports coverage
Dickie clearly passed the presenter’s litmus test: this former Queen Mary purser was welcomed into living rooms across the country on Saturday afternoons for 17 years, from 1968 to 1985.
The fee schedule was outlandish, from barrel jumping in Connecticut to cliff jumping in Acapulco, before the New York Firefighters Championship. And wrestling, of course, and the seven-race combine, as well as the regular diet of billiards, golf, and the Cup final, and so on. It was a time before big rights deals and satellite deals made the sport take itself as seriously as it does. now.
Dickie was the super example of his boss Peter Bromley’s advice to all presenters and panelists while he was director of sports at London Weekend Television: ‘You’re not addressing the House of Lords, chaps. Just talk to Fred and Freda back in Dorking.
And so did Dickie, his biting style reassuring rather than condescending. He made it sound easy, half the trick of his chaotic trade, but he put a lot of thought into his words, even trying out his ‘improvisations’ on the production team.
Jim Rosenthal has paid tribute to Dickie Davies after confirming the death of his old friend
As Rosenthal attests: ‘What you saw is what you got with Dickie. That open, friendly and radiant personality. One guy tweeted about how he was a trainee cameraman and how nice Dickie was, making his life easier. That was Dickie.
‘This may be a gladiator industry, but he wasn’t like that. You would have to make a lot of calls to find someone who would say a bad word about him.
Silently, thoughtfully, Dickie would pay the bill at the World of Sport Christmas party.
Former deputy editor Robert Charles talks about Dickie’s imperturbability. Like when he comes from a commercial break for the halftime scores. Dickie would have no idea which piece of land they would visit first when the camera panned on him. The editor’s voice in Dickie’s ear: ‘Brian Moore at Highbury.’ ‘So, off to the first of our half-time reports,’ he would say, ‘and to hear the latest from Arsenal’s top-table clash with Liverpool at Highbury…’ All done calmly without causing anyone to fall off his dishes at home.
However, there is a known bug. He wanted to say: ‘Let’s see Cup football’, which came out as ‘Let’s see the son of a bitch’. Not Ofcom then.
He once admitted that wrestling was not his favorite activity, but he knew its importance, as Rosenthal recalls: “He gave me some great advice when I joined. We were going through the World of Sports. At four o’clock you have a link to the wrestling, and I made a cheeky comment about how this was going to be the highlight of my TV career, and he grabbed my arm and said, ‘Rosey, ITV builds up its entire night time slot from four o’clock on a Saturday and the wrestling is the springboard.
‘We have 10 million people who come to watch and never leave ITV, so don’t take the c *** off wrestling. I never did it again.
The host helped write broadcasting grammar during his long career
A colleague recalls Mick McManuss, one of several wrestlers who became household names, coming into the office and jokingly putting Dickie in a headlock: star man Dickie was playing his role humorously to everyone’s amusement . On another occasion, on the Garrick, Sarah Ferguson’s father, Commander Ron, asked Dickie over lunch about Mighty John Quinn.
World of Sport achieved cult status, reaching all classes, Dickie adding sparkle with his flair and flair.
There was a desire to decorate the image of ITV and, in any case, the way of devouring the sport was changing. World of Sport was withdrawn. But Dickie didn’t. He went on to front boxing, darts and snooker and the 1998 Seoul Olympics, before leaving ITV for new ventures: reading sport on Classic FM and, after recovering from a stroke that cruelly deprived him of speech on 1995, Front: Dickie Davies’ Sporting Heroes.